Guest Bio: Justin Wren is an American MMA fighter. Justin is currently fighting in the heavyweight division of Bellator to help raise more awareness for helping the Pygmy people of the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

Topics Discussed: Talk about his MMA training in Oklahoma; Rafael Lovato, Jr.; Bellator has some great fighters now; Bellator’s upcoming Pay-Per-View; Fedor vs. Matt Mitrione fight was cancelled; passing kidney stones; kidney stones are a side effect of weight cutting; Justin weighs 248 lbs.; Justin talks about his diet, nutrition, and cardio; Justin has celiac disease; Justin had malaria two times; Justin wrecked his body with malaria and drug addiction; what Justin eats; training with Rafael; Saulo Ribeiro; heavyweight submission artists; training to hear his coaches in his corner; how he balances building wells for the Pygmies and training for his MMA career; Justin got to talk about the Pygmies on TV after his Bellator fight; talk about Bellator; Bellator’s heavyweight champ Vitaly Minakov was stripped of his belt; Justin thinks he’s a few fights away from getting the belt; Eco Survivor LED lanterns; 50% of sales from the lanterns go towards helping the Pygmies; a billion work days are lost from people having to walk to get water in the Congo; 800 kids in the Congo died from diarrhea; talk about drilling wells in the Congo; how Bellator is helping with Justin’s cause; Fight for the Forgotten book; balancing his trips to the Congo with training; he will only go to the Congo once per year now; he’s partnering with Pacha Soap to build a soap company in the Congo and teach the importance of cleanliness; Poverty Inc. documentary; When Helping Hurts book; giving something for nothing hurts; the answer to poverty is opportunity not charity; how charity hurts; there is no cookie-cutter solution; Justin tells a story about how giving food away causes problems in impoverished areas; Justin believes the water crisis will be solved through empowerment and opportunity; (they watch a video); (1:00:00) Justin is living a life of purpose; Justin gave Joe a knife made out of a nail; (they watch another video); Justin considers himself the spark plug in the engine that is helping the Congo; working towards getting the Congo self-sufficient to help themselves; why he doesn’t take more volunteers to the Congo; talk about conflict in that region of the world; their supplies were mistaken for a bomb; he’s doing a documentary; he wants to fight for 5-7 more years; charging for water to help build more wells and for planting trees; Justin’s last appearance on the podcast helped fund a new well; Justin gives Joe another gift; there’s no adoption in the Congo, the community helps to raise the children; we don’t have a sense of community here; Dunbar’s number; Justin talks about being suicidal and the Pygmies not understanding wanting to do something like that; funerals in the Congo and how they process death; losing a child unites the parents in the Congo; life is more precious because life is such a struggle; being alone with your thoughts; the attractiveness of living a simple life; life is a temporary ride; the Pygmies are generous and share; talk about the Pygmies he knows; the Pygmies have no representation or rights; Pygmies were once put in the Bronx Zoo and fed bananas; illegal deforestation in the Congo; King Leopold’s Ghost book; Joe has helped people learn about isolation tanks; Float Nation documentary; floating can help with anxiety and depression; more talk about floating; (2:00:00) you can think clearer when you’re not focused on your body; physical tension is relieved by floating; floating helped Justin prepare for his fight; visualizing a goal; Water4 is trying to raise $50k.

My Thoughts: They watch a couple videos but don’t say what they are, so I just linked to the Water4 YouTube page. Maybe they’re up there. Talk about his Bellator MMA career and helping to build wells in the Congo. Talk about floating towards the end.

Podcast Video: Below is a video of The Joe Rogan Experience podcast episode #937 available for streaming via YouTube.

Podcast Audio: Audio for this episode of The Joe Rogan Experience podcast is available through iTunes, Stitcher, or you can download the MP3 directly to add it to the audio player of your choice.